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Gjallarhorn Lore

Gjallarhorn

Exotic Weapons

Welcome back guardians, this is a re-make of one of my first lore videos because I was very unhappy with the quality of commentary. I hope you find this re-make enjoyable the second time round.

Today we are talking about, undeniably the most powerful weapon in Destiny, the exotic rocket launcher Gjallarhorn. This is the story of Gjallarhorn and how it came to its infamous creation, why it is so powerful, and its connections with Nordic mythology. The video will also cover the Iron Lord heroes of the Battle of Twilight Gap. If you are new to destiny, you are likely already chasing this exotic drop, and what you are witnessing now was my first gjallarhorn drop after months of grinding.

Gjallarhorn’s story starts at the Battle of Twilight gap, you are likely familiar with Twilight Gap the PVP map however you may not be familiar with the story behind this crucible battlefield. Twilight gap is on the perimeter of the last remaining Earth city that dwells below the traveler and was once inhabited by many different races of guardians.

The Fallen attempted to take the city and their first objective was to breach the defensive walls of Twilight Gap. As I have mentioned in many other lore episodes, the fallen House of Devils lead the charge and combined forces with House of Kings and House of Winter. House of Wolves was prevented from joining the battle by the Queen of the Reef. An integral part to the defense of Twilight Gap, was the massive artillery cannons mounted along the wall, which you can still witness them fire during crucible matches.

The artillery from the cannons bombarded the Fallen as they tried to storm the wall however the guardians we’re not the only ones with artillery, the Fallen also had their Walkers. The Spider tanks returned fire pounding the wall with artillery shells.

The defense of Twilight gap and the city was lead by Lord Saladin. You likely know Lord Saladin as the Iron Banner vendor. Lord Saladin was not alone in the defense of the city, Lord Shaxx, the crucible vendor was also with him and Shaxx brought with him his personal army of combat frames. Despite working together to defend the city, Lord Saladin and Shaxx have very different opinions in military strategy.

Lord Saladin is very humble and appeals to the people of the city, in one of his speeches he says

“Nothing born is born strong, I know I began weak the same as you.”

Where as Lord Shaxx gives off an almost regal, elitist, warlord even appearance. However, this may have been exactly what the city needed.

It is possible that Lord Saladin and Lord Shaxx are part of the group named the Iron Lords, who were given their title because of their prowess in combat. Or alternatively they were awarded the titles after Twilight Gap. Another vendor that was at the battle but was not awarded such a title was Eris Morn.

If you listen to Eris morn’s in game dialogue within the Tower, she says

“I faced the Fallen at the City’s gates, I had no fear until I stood before Crota.”

Eris makes it quite clear to Lord Saladin and Lord Shaxx, that Battle of Twilight Gap is nothing in comparison to Crota.

Lord Shaxx was not the leader of the city defenses and this is most likely because he would risk everything for victory and if you look at the grimiore card for the Crucible Marks it says

“competition thrives on risk and reward. So Lord Shaxx has been fit to dispense Crucible Marks to those who excel.”

Despite not commanding the defense, Lord Shaxx defies Saladin and organizes a counter-strike against the Fallen. Shaxx lead a charge away from the safety of the wall knowing that they will suffer many casualties but he believed that it was necessary to repel the Fallen. And it was true, they were successful in defeating the Fallen. Consequently, Shaxx and Saladin have a strained relationship to this day and this is reinforced by the grimoire card for the Iron Banner reputation.

We will never know if the battle could have been won with less causalities, however one gunsmith saw opportunity to create beauty from devastation. Fiezel Crux, was the gunsmith’s name and he orders that the armour of the deceased guardians be collected, as it still contains some of their light. Using the amour he forges Gjallarhorn. Gjallarhorn’s description says

“if there is beauty in destruction why not also in its delivery”

This seems quite suited to how the Guardians won the battle of Twilight, rushing into battle, seeking glory and honour in their deaths.

This is very reminiscent of Nordic mythology or how Vikings would conduct themselves on the battlefield. Furthermore Gjallrahorn means ‘yelling horn’ and the mythology behind the yelling horn is it was held by a God who is guarding Asgard, the home and fortress of other gods. His main job was to keep watch for an event that was predicted called Ragnarok, which would result in the death of the Gods.

The yelling horn was used as a warming call, to alert the Gods of trouble, and if heard they were to rush to the defensive gates of Asgard. You can see the strength on Gjallarhorn does not come from a single being but from the combined forces of many. Fiezel Crux represented this concept even more so, by incorporating the Crest of Alpha Lupi onto the gun itself. The Crest of Alpha lupi is represented by a wolf and can be seen on Hunter and Titan chest armour by the same name Crest of Alpha Lupi, interestingly the Warlock does not have the same peace of Chest armour. This could indicate that the guardians at Twilight gap mainly consisted of Titans and Hunters, or maybe the armour was made after Gjallarhorn’s creation, and by wearing the crest we reinforce our allegiance and commitment to defend the city. This makes sense because we know that Warlocks are the least likely to pledge allegiance to the traveler, as they are too busy pursuing the truth.

Either way, by incorporating the Crest of Alpha Lupi, Fiezel Crux combines the power of all fallen guardians, the power of the Wolfpack round, therefore when you fire his weapon you are not the only guardian behind it but you have a Wolfpack of light. A wolf pack of all the fallen guardians from the Battle of Twilight Gap. Know that when Gjallarhorn is mounted upon your shoulders the Wolfpack of fallen guardians stand at your side when gjallarhorn houls, the Wolfpack will answer.

I hope you enjoyed this re-make of Gjallarhorn lore, if so please drop a like or comment and we will see you next time. Peace!